


stay with me

by Stars_dreaming (orphan_account)



Series: 88 MCU drabbles and oneshots [77]
Category: Black Panther (2018), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Avengers Family, Everybody Lives, F/M, Gen, Happy, Implied Relationships, Parent Tony Stark, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), T'Challa (Marvel) Is a Good Bro, except vision
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-31
Updated: 2019-05-31
Packaged: 2020-03-30 00:39:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19031215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Stars_dreaming
Summary: It’s over. They’re okay. They can rest now. They’ll stay this time.





	stay with me

A lake. Glistening water reflecting the bright sun. Purple flowers blooming. Leaves rustling in the wind. Life all around them. Birds singing.

The screech of a happy child. The laughter of her parents running behind her, trying to catch up.

Happiness. A family.

Steve in a chair by the lake, sharing a beer with Happy. Sam and Bucky on the dock, not talking, but their entwined hands speak a thousand words for them.

Scott with Hope and Cassie on the stairs of the veranda. Nebula and Rhodey hidden by the trees, sharing details of their past. The Guardians playing in the sun with a floating ball. 

Freedom. Friendship. 

Bruce and Thor discussing space travel; Loki and Stephen wandering along the shore of the lake.

Pietro and Wanda on the white bench by the lake, enjoying the heat of the sun together. Shuri and Peter, splashing each other with the water. 

The clatter of pans in the lakeside cabin--Clint and Natasha in the kitchen. Carol nursing a glass of wine with Nick by her side.

The fight is over. They're okay. 

 

"They seem at peace," a deep voice says behind her, from where she's leaning on the wooden rails of the porch. 

Safe. 

Happy.

In love. 

Her eyes trail over their faces. At peace indeed. They're home. 

"All the Avengers together. We used to think it was impossible."

He steps up to place his hands on the rails, dangerously close to her own. She can see him smile in the corner of her eye.

"It won't stay like this." He sounds sad. 

Still she refuses to look at him--at that loving and open face that she hasn't seen in years.

"The world is still falling apart. They need the Avengers."

The Avengers are no more. They both know it. Their superheroes are tired--they can rest now. It's time for the next generation to take over. 

Silence reigns over them.

 

"Even if it might not ail you..." he hesitates, "I have forgiven you."

She wills herself not to wince--not to turn around and smile at him; indulge in what he can give her.

He shifts a little closer. His hands move and she does not pull away when his left hand covers her right. She hears him breathe out shakily--he's nervous. She wonders faintly why. 

Her eyes remain on the lake, glistening and basking in the sunlight. It's beautiful. So simple, and yet ethereal. She understands why Tony chose to live here. 

"I'm sorry," he whispers then. She stills--forgets how to breathe for a single moment.

"Shuri promised me that she would hit me with Okoye's Sonic Spear if... well- that doesn't matter." He shakes his head. "I apologize for what I've done."

"Do you think they would accept me?"

Now she turns to him, and he looks a bit perplexed for a moment, before recovering and straightening his shoulders. She looks down at their hands--his dark one a stark contrast to her white one. 

"They don't like white people a lot," she whispers. 

"The colour of your skin does not matter to me. I intend to marry you one day." He lifts his hand and caresses her cheek. She leans into the touch just a bit. 

"You're a king. If I marry you... if I marry you, I marry not only you, but your country too. They need to accept me."

"My people will love you as much as I love you. Maybe even more."

She looks at their hands again. Now he reaches for her other hand too, and his thumb strokes her ring finger. 

A beat of silence. 

 

Laughter. Shuri yells at Peter that she will make him pay. 

 

"Will you stay?" He asks her. She looks up at him and blinks. Once. Twice. 

Those beautiful eyes, she thinks. Those beautiful dark eyes are forever etched in my heart. His voice and his words will forever be in my mind. And his love... his love is printed on my soul.

"For you, I'd do anything," she says, and it's true. He squeezes her hands and then lets them go. 

 

From the kitchen window Natasha peers out of, she spots Tony lifting Morgan in the air. She sees Steve laugh with Happy. 

From the stove, Clint watches Carol and Nick on the couch and Natasha on the counter with a dagger dangling in her fingers. He looks at her, and he realizes that in those eyes he reads so many things that used to be impossible. Rest, he thinks. They can rest now. Build a new life. Create a new future.

By the lakeside, Steve and Happy watch over the two teenagers playing in the water; Loki and Stephen keep their eyes trained on the young Morgan Stark, who escapes from her father's embrace and chases her mother in the sand. 

Scott and Hope, on the veranda, let their eyes trail on Bucky and Sam. Nebula and Rhodey, hidden by the trees; caught up in their conversation, don’t notice Gamora’s and Rocket’s watchful eyes on them.

Bruce and Thor close to Wanda and Pietro, but at the same time ensuring to give them the privacy they need.

Wanda, in turn, keeping her eyes on Steve, who, for the first time in a long time, laughs loud and genuine.

They’re okay.

 

None of them see T’Challa embrace her on the veranda; none of them see their lips finding one another; none of them notice the necklaces around their necks with silver rings dangling in the sunlight.

Only Pietro sees the woven bracelet with Wakanda’s colours on her wrist. Only Pietro catches Shuri’s happy smile at seeing the couple break away from each other and smile.

Love.

A family.

It’s over.

They can rest now.

They’ll stay this time.


End file.
